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A History of TAW

It is unlikely that you will find a gaming community out there that can talk about being around since early 2001. TAW has a long history of adapting and improving it's structure, keeping pace with the changing winds of PC gaming.

2001

Date

Event

~ Jan

"The Art of Warfare" name is first used by a group of players who play Delta Force together. Wedge and Omega, the founding members of The Art of Warfare (TAW), are two players from that group.

6 Mar

Applications begin to get screened for 1st Squad (a Delta Force Squad). Development of a website begins and TAW formally launches.

13 Mar

TAW purchase the domain www.theartofwarfare.net and the website is moved from its holding page at www.exade.com/artofwarfare to its new domain name.

15 Mar

The first official version of the TAW website is launched.

28 Mar

The website is featured in the news and they refer to Captain Wedge as a Co-Founder of TAW. When TAW is launched, Captain is the highest rank that a member can hold.

Jun - Oct

TAW creates Task Force Operations (TFO) as a group to oversee all TAW related business.

27 Dec

TFO restructures Divisions by time zones and approves expansion to include European players.

2002

Date

Event

6 Jan

The first TAW wide Annual Meeting is held.

14 Jan

An internal tournament between Europe and the US is played, featuring the Delta Force and Ghost Recon Divisions.

6 Feb

Dossiers are launched which display general information on each Member of TAW.

2003

Date

Event

4 Jan

The TAW wide Annual Meeting is held.

27 May

Sub-domains, including news.theartofwarfare.net, are created for the TAW website.

13 Jul

TAW launches a new Tournament and Maps website at www.theartofwarfare.org (no longer active).

5 Aug

The TAW Shop (initially called "TAW PX") is re-designed and more items are added.

7 Aug

TFO approves a new structure for TAW in which Zones will be used to organise Divisions around the world.

12 Sep

A new Flash introduction is created for the TAW website.

2004

Date

Event

3 Mar

TAW branded merchandise is made available through the TAW Shop.

13 May

The World of Warfare (www.wowarfare.com) launches as TAW's new Tournament website (no longer active).

24 Jun

TFO approves the creation of a Commander's Award and an Outstanding Volunteer Medal to recognise Members' exemplary leadership and community contributions.

2 Jul

TAW recruitment video goes live.

5 Jul

The main TAW website has its Flash introduction redesigned.

15 Aug

TFO approves a restructure change to the divisions (3rd restructure). Divisions will now have Battalions instead of Zones. Battalions can be filled with Members from anywhere in the world.

TFO introduces Corps Commanders to help Divisional staff.

2005

Date

Event

16 Jan

Omega is re-elected as Secretary General of TAW to serve for another year. The role is later renamed to "Commander in Chief".

31 Jan

TFO approves a pilot project for Ghost Recon 2 on the XBox. GR2 becomes the first non-PC game to join TAW as a Squad within the Ghost Recon Division.

5 Feb

First TAW wide Annual TeamSpeak Meeting held.

10 Jul

TFO approves a new structure for Divisions with more than 100 Members, creating the positions of Division Commander, Staff Officer and Platoon Leader.

TFO promotes Omega to the rank of 5 Star General (then the highest rank in TAW). Omega is the first and only 5 Star General at the time.

2006

Date

Event

The Art of Warfare takes ownership of www.taw.net after winning the auction for the domain name.

6 Mar

TAW celebrates its Fifth Birthday!

30 Apr

TFO approves the creation of the TAW Retirement Program, the TAW Lifetime Achievement Medal and the Retirement Division. This is the second non-gaming Division in TAW.

11 Jun

TFO approved "Years of Service" medals to recognise long-term membership within TAW. 5 types of medals depending on lenght of service can be obtained

15 Jun

TFO approves the Information Technology Division. This is the third non-gaming Division, whose focus is to maintain and respond to all IT related issues within the organisation. It is the predecessor of Operations Support.

TFO Approves the Distinguished Service Cross as the 2nd highest medal in TAW.

5 Nov

TFO approves the 21th division in TAW: Deployed Military Division. This is the 4th "special" division which whose focus is not on gaming but maintaining contacting with those members of TAW who are currenlty deployed on military duty in real life.

19 Nov

TFO approves the TAW Tournament Medal.

22 Nov

The Seal Of TAW is released.

10 Dec

The Deployed Military Medal is approved by TFO.

2007

Date

Event

1 Jan

2007 Motto : "If you have nothing positive to say, then say nothing at all."

27 Jan

158 members attend the TAW-wide Annual Meeting.

25 Jun

TAW is restructured into Branches : Administration, Military and Massive Multiplayer Online.

24 Aug

Vanguard is created with the task of launching new Divisions - and supporting Divisions that are too small to maintain in Military Operations.

2008

Date

Event

1 Jan

2008 Motto : "Save the drama for your Momma."

13 Jan

CIC Omega promotes Fox to 5 Star General. He becomes only the second person in TAW history to carry the rank of 5 Star General - and at the time of his promotion is the only holder of this rank.

27 Jan

The first Commander In Chief Voting Process begins on 27 Jan 08 and runs until 10 Feb 08 with the election of CIC Fox as the 2nd CIC in TAW History.

Operations Support (OS) was formed, bringing together the Retirement, Information Technology and Joint Services Divisions.

2009

Date

Event

1 Jan

2009 Motto : "Save the drama for your Momma.""It worked well last year when REDCELL recommended it. We are keeping it again." - CIC Fox

8 Feb

TAW-wide Annual Meeting takes place. 270 members attend the meeting.

2010

Date

Event

1 Jan

2010 Motto : "Play first and work second."

10 Jan

The second Commander In Chief Voting Process begins on 10 Jan 2010 and ended on 30 Jan 2010 with the election of Hook as TAW's 3rd CIC.

11 Apr

340 Members attend the TAW-wide Annual Meeting.

Jul

TAW@War launches with the goal of running an internal tournament in a free-to-play game for all our Members. TAW@War I features Urban Terror.

5 Nov

TAW transitions from TeamSpeak 2 to TeamSpeak 3 - and introduces substantial integration and automation between the TAW website and our TeamSpeak server.

Nov - Dec

TAW@WAR II features Wolfenstein

2011

Date

Event

1 Jan

2011 Motto : "Play first and work second."

6 Mar

The Art of Warfare celebrates its 10th birthday.

Jun - Jul

TAW@WAR III takes place in Scorched Horizon.

28 Aug

A completely new version of www.taw.net is launched. The latest website adds further integration with TeamSpeak 3 and boasts many new administration functions - making it easier to manage large numbers of TAW Members.

28 Aug

Central Command Office (CCO) is renamed to Central Command (CC).

Nov - Dec

TAW@WAR IV takes place and feature Team Fortress 2 which recently moved from a paid for to a free-to-play model.

2012

Date

Event

28 Jan

Icarus is elected as the 4th Commander In Chief of TAW following the 24 hour Member voting period.

~ Oct

Steam replaces XFire as a place for the TAW community to gather on an external platform.

16 Nov

TAW-wide Annual Meeting is held.

23 Nov

The Horizon Division is created within Vanguard as a proving ground for potential new games.

2013

Date

Event

1 Jan

2013 Motto : "Servant leaders lead the way."

30 Jun

TFO votes to change the age requirements for Battalion-level Officers from 21 to 18, creating opportunites for a broader age range across our staff.

17 Aug

TAW@WAR V features America's Army 3.

2014

Date

Event

14 Jan

The Art of Warfare formally incorporates as a not-for-profit corporation. The new Board of Directors will contribute to organisational success by monitoring, evaluating, supporting and protecting the organisation in the following areas of responsibility; mission and purpose, senior leadership, planning, programs and services, financial resources, legal and ethical integrity, assets, oversight and public standing.

09 Feb

The process of nominating and electing TAW's next Commander in Chief begins.

16 Feb

A TAW-wide Tournament featuring Hearthstone is held.

02 Mar

Bravehardt is elected as TAW's next Commander in Chief following a 48 hour voting process across the organisation.

16 Mar

First meeting of the Board of Directors.

04 May

TAW-wide Annual Meeting

2015

Date

Event

19 Sep

TAW@War VII is held featuring Dirty Bomb

2016

Date

Event

07 Feb

Doc is elected as the 6th Commander in Chief of TAW following the 48 hour member voting period.

07 Feb

After serving as our CiC for 2 Years, Bravehardt was awarded the coveted Lifetime Membership Award.